The Shark. 419 



We are told that, in the reign of Queen Anne, some 

 of the men of an English merchant-ship, which had 

 arrived at Barbadoes, were one day bathing in the sea, 

 when a large Shark appeared, and was rushing upon 

 them. A person from the ship called out to warn them 

 of their danger ; on which they all immediately swam 

 to the vessel, and arrived in perfect safety, except one 

 poor man, who was cut in two by the Shark, almost 

 within reach of the oars. A comrade and intimate 

 friend of the unfortunate victim, when he observed the 

 severed trunk of his companion, was seized with a 

 degree of horror that words cannot describe. The in- 

 satiate Shark was seen traversing the bloody surface in 

 search of the remainder of his prey, when the brave 

 youth plunged into the water, determining either to 

 make the Shark disgorge, or to be buried himself in the 

 same grave. He held in his hand a long and sharp- 

 pointed knife, and the rapacious animal pushed furiously 

 towards him; he had turned on his side, and had 

 opened his enormous jaws, in order to seize him, when 

 the youth, diving dexterously under, seized him with 

 his left hand, somewhere about the upper fins, and 

 stabbed him several times in the belly. The Shark, 

 enraged with pain, and streaming with blood, plunged 

 in all directions in order to disengage himself from his 

 enemy. The crews of the surrounding vessels saw that 

 the combat was decided : but they were ignorant which 

 was slain, until the Shark, weakened by loss of blood, 

 made towards the shore, and along with him his con- 

 queror ; who, flushed with victory, pushed his foe with 

 redoubled ardour, and, by the aid of an ebbing tide, 

 dragged him on shore. Here he ripped up the bowels 

 of the animal, obtained the severed remainder of his 

 friend's body, and buried it with the trunk in the same 

 grave. This story, however incredible it may appear, 

 is related in the History of Barbadoes, on the most 

 satisfactory authority. 



Had nature allowed this fish to seize his prey with 

 as much facility as many others, the Shark tribe would 

 have soon depopulated the ocean, and reigned alone in 

 the vast regions of the sea, till hunger would have forced 



